JAMES SMALL

While not a ‘Dinger’ by birth, having been born in
Upsettlington in the Parish of Ladykirk about 1740, James Small carried out his
great pioneering work on the development of the modern plough which
was to revolutionize farming practice so completely at Blackadder Mount, Allanton
only a
few miles from Duns

As Small was growing up and serving an apprenticeship as a
“county carpenter and joiner" at Hutton agricultural practice had advanced
little since the Middle Ages. The old runrig system prevailed and ploughing was still done using the old
Scotch wooden plough pulled by a team of oxen or horses, usually four, but sometimes eight in number.
These teams were lead by a goadsman. The
plough was operated by a ploughman usually with assistance to keep the plough
in the ground followed up by a further group of workers, often women or children,
who broke up the larger sods of earth not broken down by the plough using large
sticks known as ‘prattles’ This practice was well known by Robert Burns who in
his verse ‘To a Mouse’ laments to the eponymous creature that he would be loathe to run and chase it
“with murderin’ prattle”.

Small's plough

The old Scotch wooden plough

As a ploughwright and man of ambition in 1758 Small took himself off to
Doncaster where he found employment as an ’operative mechanic’ and where he came in contact with a type of plough known as a
“Rotherham” which although not the first iron plough was the first to have had
any real commercial success. This was also perhaps the first factory produced
plough.

When he returned to Berwickshire in 1764 he came in contact
with Mr. John Renton of Lamberton who was himself engaged in promoting agricultural development. Renton obviously
recognised the potential in Small and set him up in business at Blackadder
Mount, not only providing him with credit but a workforce of twenty carpenters,
six to eight blacksmiths and other labourers.

Small, first applied mathematical calculations and science
to the mouldboard shape and experimented with varying curvatures and
patterns, eventually producing a universal cast iron shape that would turn the
soil more effectively with less draft, wear and strain on the ploughman. It
also turned over a much greater furrow, slice burying and mulching the weeds.
Perhaps the crucial factor in Small’s plough was the complete abandonment of
wood, the plough being cast in iron at the recently opened
Carron Ironworks
near Falkirk.

The consequence was not only a much more efficient plough
but one which allowed the process to be carried on by one man and a pair of
horse, freeing up labour for other tasks. Over the years this 'Scots Plough' as it was
know, was the beginning of the plough we all know today.

His work was more or less immediately recognised
by Lord Kames,
a local landlord, who wrote in 1776;

“I boldly recommend
the plough introduced into Scotland about twelve years ago by James Small in
Blackadder Mount which is now in great request and with great reason as it avoids
all the defects of the Scotch plough’

.

Nevertheless a number
of local landowners still invoked the “Aye been” attitude which has in many
ways put such a break on progress in the Borders over the years and possibly still does.

One landowner in
particular Mr. Lumsdaine of Blanerne encountered much opposition to the
introduction of the new plough and had Small demonstrate it to his workers. This Small was able to do
very successfully, due possibly not so much to his skill
as an inventor and mechanic, but probably more to his skill as a ploughman.

In 1784 Small
published a treatise entitled “Treatise on Ploughs and Wheel Carriages” which
was effectively an instruction manual on how to construct a plough. This he
dedicated to his patron Mr. Alexander Renton of Lamberton " as a testimony or
respect and gratitude" and it is recorded that one came into the possession
of Robert Burns.

In 1785 an open
competition was held in a field near Dalkeith where various types of plough
were pitted against each other when Small’s was very much the clear winner.

In 1791 in the first
Statistical Account the minister at Cranstoun wrote "Two horse ploughs are
universally employed and the plough held in highest estimation is made by J
Small at Rosebank (to where Small had moved from Blackadder Mount) which is
deservedly considered the greatest improvement agriculture has received for
many years.

However Small failed
to patent his invention, perhaps intentionally, preferring rather that it should
be as universally and as cheaply available as possible to all.

Also he did loose
money on the publication of his Treatise and lacked business acumen with the
consequence that he ran into considerable financial problems, at one point even finding
himself for a short time in a debtors’
prison.

He died in 1793 at the
age of 53. His contribution to the advancement of agriculture is immense.